Accountability is an elusive concept, but understanding where it originates can help citizens find ways to hold governments accountable.
As governance is primarily a series of service operations with the ultimate objective of maximizing citizens’ welfare, use of management principles such as the Six Sigma concepts (data, focus on clients/citizens, quality) combined with Lean thinking (process flow, minimizing the costs of unnecessary complexity) can help to transform government service organizations into more efficient and citizen friendly agencies.
But we are a nation where Accountability is for citizens only not for Govt Administration and agencies.
For instance, we have so many pothole laden roads are the engineers ever held responsible for the same?
Every year crores and crores of rupees are spent by the corporation, PWD agencies in extensive pothole patch repairs. Because of adverse media coverage, these agencies do patch repairs of main streets in urban areas and main highways in rural areas after the monsoon season are over. By lanes in towns and cities and some secondary roads in rural areas usually, remain neglected for years.
The current hot topic hovering around Belagavi is the use of Plastic. The corporation has all of a sudden awakened and enlightened for the better we must say, but the way it is going to shops with torches and searching each and every rack for plastic bags and then imposing a fine.
The ones involved may not even know the act, as some goods come with plastic bags from the manufacturer they also wanted to seize them.
But the Govt agency is not interested in stopping this at the manufacturing level or the ones who sell them. They find easy targets like shops and fine them. It is true when at fault you have to pay for it. But the question here is why only the Common citizens?
One more daunting apathy, especially in Belagavi, is the approach of the Police in imposing fines for nonwearing of helmets and other documents. But we hardly see them performing their main duty of maintaining traffic. We have posted about this a zillion times, but the rules are for the common man. The police jeep can be parked in Ramdev Galli for 20 mins no one asks, but when I just stop the car so that passengers alight I am fined for no parking.
One school of thought will say the wrong has to penalized. True, but the accountability must be both ways.
Take one more instance, the taxmen will send notice of some kind of lethargy in the self-assessment return one has filed. Notices are sent to people who have paid tax only as that is the only record they have. The one who has never paid any tax but is still liable roams about freely but the taxmen have no data.
The Corporation does it regularly with the Property tax. The ones who have paid are the only who are asked have you paid or the property is surveyed to find out if you have hidden something. But there are 5 storey structures who have not paid tax for years but the corporation has no information about them hence only the common man who pays his taxes is on their radar.
Each department must be made accountable, it is not the common man who has to be held accountable always but the Govt Administration must also be held accountable for its lethargy.
These pictures are old not as of now
have u read the caption below the image it clearly mentions so. This year there are similar potholes and trenches in the city
You have said it right. In Belagavi there is no accountability of administration. Rules,instructions are floated but their compliance on ground is zero. Traffic rules ,specially helmet wearing, wrong side driving by two wheelers is a common feature, endangering their own lives and lives of others who are following rules. Maintenance of roads is a gold mine of corruption, the less the said is better. Year after year the situation is same. In RPD cross,traffic lights are existing but it is understood that prominent citizens in that area are against the functioning of lights….so it is a nightmare to cross the junction at any time of the day. So enjoy the life….
Nice, this is one many citizen are asking but not getting any responsible answer. As the person who do duty is a last officer of that department and he knows only his superior order, he even don’t know what is law . We people also not following the rules . Polythene bag, wearing safety helmet is a law , why one just in unknowingly breaking law ? Pits in road , it’s a rule that on every 3year and 5 year the roads should be reconditioned as with taar, also there is an agreement with the contractor to maintain that road . After that time limit the contractor get balance amount. But the department forget to take out next contact to refurnish a aged old road . So in India law are made late also impliment of law is also late by one generation. ?
Governance Deficit is a major issue in our country. But in Belagavi there is a total absence of governance both at the Corporation level and the district level. Although Belagavi is the second largest district in the state, the DC of the district has generally been a ‘Promotee IAS’ officer and (KAS to IAS) & not from the regular IAS Cadre. Due to this the entire administrative staff of the district has been sub standard for a long time. The DC, the Police Commissioner and the Corporation Commissioner have been handpicked by the minister who is in charge of the district only to look after the personal interests of the minister and his party. The complaints of the citizens therefore have continued to be ignored as the officials are always ‘busy’ attending to the ‘directions’ of the minister. We citizens have to collectively protest against the apathy being shown to us and make the officials accountable and expose their incompetence and inefficiency in discharging their duties.
Nice article sir. You have been single handedly questioning the system. We all must unite and work for the betterment of our city. We just cannot let alone the bureaucrats and the politicians do it for us. We the citizens of Belagavi have to take out some time and pressure the people in power to work for the betterment of our city.